Russia has celebrated the 69th anniversary of Victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (WWII) with a traditional May 9 military parade on Moscow’s Red Square, which featured 11,000 troops, 149 military vehicles and 69 warplanes.

The clock on the Kremlin’s Spasskaya tower rang its chimes at
10:00 AM Moscow time to signal the start of the Victory Day
parade.

The right to bring out the official flag of the Russian
Federation and the Victory banner this year went to the
servicemen of the Preobrazhensky regiment, which has been
carrying the honor guard service in Red Square for over 55 years.

The original Victory Banner is the red flag, which was mounted by
Soviet troops atop the Reichstag building in Berlin on May 9,
1945 as a symbol of victory over the Nazis.

After Russia’s defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, inspected the
servicemen gathered for the parade, he reported to the
commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, the country’s
president, Vladimir Putin.

"It's our country which chased the Nazis to their den, and
achieved their full and final defeat, won at the cost of millions
of victims and terrible ordeals. We will always guard this
sacred, unfading truth, and we will not allow the heroes to be
betrayed or forgotten – everyone who saved peace on the planet,
not sparing oneself [from death]," Putin said.

The parade was traditionally opened by a drummer squad of the
Moscow Military Musical College, who set the marching rhythm for
the 11,000 participating officers and soldiers.

The infantry representing all branches of the Russian army as
well as military academies have made their way across the 256
meters of Red Square at the pace of 110 to 120 steps per minute.

The inclusion of the Special Forces units has become one of the
innovations of the current parade as they marched in protective
uniforms providing supreme protection from all the basic types of
bullets, with Val silent machine guns and VSS Vintorez sniper
rifles in their hands.

GAZ -2330 ‘Tiger’ combat cars have opened the mechanized column
of 149 units, which was the largest to participate in the Victory
parade since the fall of Soviet Union in 1991.

But there were also military vehicles that Russia has never
showcased at the parade before, including armored KamAZ-63968
‘Typhoon’ combat cars, Tor-M2U antiaircraft missile systems,
Khrizantema-S antitank missile systems as well as 2S19M2 Msta-S
modernized self-propelled artillery guns.

None of the historic vehicles from the WWII era participated in
the current parade as the organizers decided to save them for the
celebrations of 70th anniversary of Victory next year.

The final part of the parade was the flyover, which involved 69
planes and helicopters to match the number of years passed since
the victory over Nazi Germany.